Final Fantasy WiiWare gets DLC
Expand with dungeons and costumes.
Square Enix has added more bits to download for WiiWare Final Fantasy outing My Life As King.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King News
What Wii owners are playing most
US stats make for interesting reading.
New stats appearing on the US Nintendo Channel have revealed what Wii owners prefer to play - and for how long.
Blows raspberries in faces of others.
Nintendo's European marketing chief, Laurent Fischer, has revealed that LostWinds is currently king of the WiiWare chartcastle. The game is pointing and laughing at the likes of TV Show King and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King, who occupy second and third places respectively.
Six games at launch - pricing inside.
Nintendo's WiiWare service for downloadable first- and third-party games has launched in Europe with six brand new games to try out.
The headlining duo are LostWinds from Frontier Developments, which earned itself a handsome 9/10 in our review, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King from Square Enix, which is a sort of RPG Sim City.
The other launch titles are Dr Mario & Germ Buster, a Wiimote-enabled remake of the classic Nintendo puzzler; Star Soldier R, a high-scores shoot-'em-up from Hudson; TV Show King, a basic quiz game from Gameloft; and Toki Tori, a puzzle/platform game where to play as a chicken.
Details on each WiiWare launch game
How they work and their features.
Since you've already stared lovingly at the European WiiWare launch line-up, some of which are due out on 20th May, we thought you might like a bit more information on each of the games. Prices listed are based on US and Japanese equivalents, as Nintendo was unable to confirm European pricing when we asked.
(Update 20th May, 7.17am: Pricing is now confirmed. The only two on this list not available at the 20th May launch are Pirates: The Key of Dreams and Pop.)
Dr. Mario & Germ Buster (Nintendo) - 1000 Wii Points (GBP 7 / EUR 10 approx)
European WiiWare launch line-up
Eight games, but not all on 20th May.
Nintendo has announced the European WiiWare launch line-up, which is headlined by LostWinds from Frontier and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King by Square Enix.
Yesterday saw the launch of the US WiiWare service, featuring six titles, but we actually get eight in Europe on 20th May, missing out on the US' Defend your Castle and V.I.P Casino: Blackjack but gaining Dr. Mario & Germ Buster from Nintendo, Pirates: The Key of Dreams from Oxygen Interactive, Star Soldier R from Hudson and Toki Tori from Two Tribes.
Update, 12.05pm: Nintendo has been in touch to say "not all eight titles will be immediately available from the May 20th launch date". The wording in the press release was, "From 20th May onwards a whole host of brand new creative games from developers across Europe and the rest of the globe become available, including..." followed by a list. We've asked Nintendo to clarify which ones will be out when.
One new game each week.
Nintendo will launch its WiiWare service across the US today.
It goes live with six titles, including LostWinds from Frontier Developments, and is set to receive one fresh game a week.
WiiWare behaves just like Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, and offers independent developers a source of distribution for their smaller-scale and usually arcade-style games.
Wii Software DLC system explained
Square Enix taking full advantage.
The Wii Software system for buying downloadable content for your games has been detailed, using the rather pricey example of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King.
Nine titles now available.
Nintendo has launched its WiiWare Channel in Japan, offering nine fresh games for download.
These range from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles spin off My Life as a King, which sees you building and managing your own town, to Dr. Mario, which has you handling drugs. You can see some of games in action on Eurogamer TV.
The WiiWare Channel, called Wii Software here, will launch in the US on 12th May. Nintendo has yet to announce a European date.
Watch WiiWare titles in action
Over on Eurogamer TV.
Eurogamer TV is now showing videos of three of the WiiWare titles Japanese owners will be treated to from 25th March.
WiiWare gets Japanese launch date
First batch of titles named and priced.
Nintendo has finally announced launch date and pricing details for the WiiWare game download service in Japan.
As reported by IGN, WiiWare will launch on March 25th with nine games.
Prices start at 500 Wii Points (GBP 3.50 / EUR 5) for Okiraku Ping Pong and Tenshi no Solitaire. Hudson's Star Soldier R will cost 800 Points (GBP 5.60 / EUR 8).
Wii Fit date, bikes in Mario Kart
Plus Wii Ware games, Fire Emblem DS, DS download channel.
As well as adding Sonic to the Smash Bros. roster, Nintendo's Japanese press conference also brought us the local release date for Wii Fit, news of motorbikes in Mario Kart and a few details on the first games for downloadable service Wii Software (Wii Ware), announced this June.